1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to management of plural printers connected to a network.
2. Related Background Art
In a printer system which commonly has plural printers connected a network, in case of assigning an output destination, it is considered that an operating situation of the printer is displayed to an user, who selects the output destination in accordance with the necessity. For example, such cases as selecting a printer in normal operating and ready to use, a printer capable of color outputting, a printer capable of high speed printing, a printer capable of two-face printing and the like are considered.
Further, printing speed can be improved by performing a printing operation simultaneously upon assigning the plural printers as output destinations.
However, in order to assign the plural printers as the output destinations, although the plural printers which are individual have to be assigned, it is required to obtain information of the operating situation and processing performance of each printer individually and an user has to total up the obtained information. As a result, it takes time.
Also, since a setting operation has to be performed again by separating one job into plural jobs, the operation becomes complex.
For the user, in order to recognize progressing situation of jobs being outputted to the plural output destinations, it is required to obtain information of the progressing situation of each printer individually and the user has to total up the obtained information. As a result, it takes time.
In case of setting the plural output destinations, the user has to judge whether or not each printer assigned as the output destination has performance of executing the setting contents of an output. As a result, it takes time.
Therefore, as described in Japanese Patent Application (Laid-Open) No. 9-319532, the plural printers are to be realized as a group which is treated as one logical printer. Printing jobs of plural prints are automatically distributed to each of the printers which structure the logical printer.
However, in the above-described conventional art, since performance of the logical printer is not concretely indicated to the user, the user has to judge the performance of the logical printer by grasping the performance of each of the printers which structure the logical computer. As a result, it takes time in selecting the printer.